{"id":1180568,"date":"2021-01-18T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T18:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=1180568"},"modified":"2021-01-21T00:14:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T05:14:39","slug":"5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/","title":{"rendered":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Not to scar Celtics fans any more than they are, but yesterday\u2019s loss to the Knicks at home was literally one of the worst this century. According to Sean Grande:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Worst home loss since March, 2007<\/li>\n<li>75 points matched lowest score in Brad Stevens era<\/li>\n<li>The Celtics&#8217; worst shooting game in 17 years<\/li>\n<li>37-point deficit, largest at home since 2003<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Boston never held the lead as New York beat the Celtics for the first time since November, 2018. Where did it all go wrong?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Poor start<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Celtics were knocked back on their heels immediately and were playing catch-up all day. On their first possession, Grant Williams drove for a layup. He missed \u2013 but a foul was called. Then Grant missed both at the line. On defense, Kemba Walker made a steal, drove to the basket, and messed up his footwork. Traveling. Those plays set a tone.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after, the Knicks took a 7-2 lead on a putback dunk, a second-chance three, and a floater in the paint. Brad Stevens called an angry timeout. It didn\u2019t help much as New York kept pounding the offensive glass, getting to the line, and forcing Boston turnovers. The Knicks led by 11 after 12 minutes, and the Celtics never came close to taking the lead back.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line was the Celts gave the Knicks confidence early, which is the last thing you want to do for an opponent desperate to break a five-game losing streak. (As bonus motivation, coach and birthday boy Tom Thibodeau may have asked his squad if they were getting him a gift).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lack of intensity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Celtics were flat for the entire 48 minutes. It was obvious early that they would have trouble all day with the Knicks. At no time did the Celtics give us any reason to believe they would go on a run. It was just that one-sided.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Make-miss league<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In their five-game win streak, the Celtics\u2019 field goal percentages were: 56.3, 48.8, 42.4, 47.7, and 51.1.<\/p>\n<p>Versus the Knicks: 29.8%.<\/p>\n<p>Only Jaylen Brown had a respectable day (25 points, 9 of 20 shooting). Everyone else was hopeless. In fact, Jeff Teague, Semi Ojeleye, and Aaron Nesmith combined to shoot 0 of 14 from the floor.<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics didn\u2019t look for good shots at all. They attempted just 38 two-pointers and settled for 46 threes. They made 7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kemba was back, but predictably rusty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the Celtics thought Kemba\u2019s presence would make up for Jayson Tatum\u2019s absence. Unfortunately, Kemba (3 of 13 shooting) needs time to get back to being himself.<\/p>\n<p>It could\u2019ve been worse. The little man <a href=\"https:\/\/go.nba.com\/omnj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">got bodied by big man Nerlens Noel<\/a> and left the court amid fears that he\u2019d broken a rib or worse. Fortunately, he was okay.<\/p>\n<p>John Karalis <a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/2021\/01\/17\/kemba-walkers-pain-free-boston-celtics-return-is-the-silver-lining-in-bad-loss-r1a1\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">wrote in-depth about Kemba\u2019s first game of the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nothing from the bench<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the second unit combined to score a season-high 66 points while shooting 26 of 45. On Sunday, when the starters really could\u2019ve used the help, the bench totaled just 25 points on 7 of 26 shooting. There was no Payton Pritchard magic, Semi came back to earth, and Teague was scoreless for the second time this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not to scar Celtics fans any more than they are, but yesterday\u2019s loss to the Knicks at home was literally&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1180569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[605048714,703639561,605037431,139862019],"tags":[703637177,76531,1011243,679577035,85614811,154812393,3275788,3823063,703637176,41024865],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v22.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"601\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\"},\"wordCount\":516,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aaron Nesmith\",\"Boston Celtics\",\"Brad Stevens\",\"Grant Williams\",\"Jaylen Brown\",\"Jayson Tatum\",\"Jeff Teague\",\"Kemba Walker\",\"Payton Pritchard\",\"Semi Ojeleye\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Celtics\",\"Red's Army\",\"Red's Army NBA\",\"Red's Army News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\",\"name\":\"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess - The Sports Daily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":601,\"caption\":\"Jan 17, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett (9) drives to the basket against the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"description\":\"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":52,\"caption\":\"The Sports Daily\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\",\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Alan Draper\"},\"description\":\"Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/aland\/\",\"jobTitle\":\"Sports Editor\",\"email\":\"\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess - The Sports Daily","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess","og_url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/","og_site_name":"The Sports Daily","article_published_time":"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":601,"url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alan Draper","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_site":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alan Draper","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/"},"author":{"name":"Alan Draper","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5"},"headline":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess","datePublished":"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/"},"wordCount":516,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg","keywords":["Aaron Nesmith","Boston Celtics","Brad Stevens","Grant Williams","Jaylen Brown","Jayson Tatum","Jeff Teague","Kemba Walker","Payton Pritchard","Semi Ojeleye"],"articleSection":["Celtics","Red's Army","Red's Army NBA","Red's Army News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/","name":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess - The Sports Daily","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-18T18:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-21T05:14:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5thoughtsNYK.jpg","width":1000,"height":601,"caption":"Jan 17, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett (9) drives to the basket against the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/5-rational-thoughts-about-the-celtics-knicks-mess-r1a1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 rational thoughts about the Celtics-Knicks mess"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","name":"The Sports Daily","description":"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization","name":"The Sports Daily","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","width":300,"height":52,"caption":"The Sports Daily"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5","name":"Alan Draper","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg","caption":"Alan Draper"},"description":"Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.","sameAs":["","","","",""],"url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/aland\/","jobTitle":"Sports Editor","email":"","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":""}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1180569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}